Wall construction

ABSTRACT

Wall structure in particular for industrial buildings having a vertical support post ( 5 ) supported on the ground, to which an upper end of a support rail ( 1 ) is affixed, wherein at least one carrier ( 2 ) with a solar module ( 3 ) is fixed to the support rail ( 1 ) and the support rail ( 1 ) is fixed in an inclined position relative to the vertical by means of a spacer ( 9 ) positioned between the support post ( 5 ) and the support rail ( 1 ).

The present invention relates to a wall structure, in particular forindustrial buildings.

There are mounting systems for solar modules in which a frame is alignedin an inclined manner and mounted on one side to a place on a wall or afaçade and supported at the opposing side on a substructure, for exampleon pile-driven foundation posts. A disadvantage thereby is that thetaking-up of the static loads is done by means of the substructure,which is why this has to be carried out with substantial effort by usingpile-driven foundation posts or by the casting of bases or othermeasures. In addition, it is not always possible to support the mountingsystem for solar modules on the ground.

Therefore, it is the object of the present invention to provide a wallstructure that makes it possible to mount solar modules in a simplemanner without the need for anchoring measures on the ground.

This object is achieved with a wall structure with the features of claim1.

According to the invention, the wall structure comprises a verticalsupport post supported on the ground, which, for example, can also be asupport post for a wall element of an industrial building, to which anupper end of a support rail is affixed. At least one carrier with asolar module is fixed to the support rail, and the support rail is fixedin an inclined position relative to the vertical by means of a spacerpositioned between the support post and the support rail. In thismanner, the taking-up of the weight loads is done by connecting thesupport rail to the vertical support post, so that it is then notnecessary to provide measures to shore up the support rail on theground. The support rail is fixed merely by means of a spacer at apre-determined angle of inclination in order to operate the solarmodules with a high degree of efficiency.

It is preferable for the support rail to be attached to the spacer insuch a way as to be moveable in a longitudinal direction. Thus, thermalstress in particular can be avoided as the support rail can be mountedin greater lengths of, for example, up to 4 m. To this end, the supportrail can be attached to the spacer either by means of a hinge or bybeing slidable, so that alterations in the length of the support railcan be compensated for without any problems.

To achieve an optimal alignment of the solar modules, the support railcan be positioned at an angle of inclination to the vertical of between5° and 20°, in particular 8° to 15°. The solar modules are preferablyplate-shaped photovoltaic elements, but other solar modules can also bemounted to the support rails.

Preferably, a wall element is mounted to the support post, for example awall element having an outer layer and an insulating layer. The supportrail used for attaching the solar modules extends thereby in apreferential arrangement over at least 70%, preferably at least 80%, ofthe height of the wall element so that the surface area of the wallelement is utilized to a large extent, and the wall structure can alsobe retrofitted very well to existing industrial buildings.

In order to cover a large surface area of a wall element with solarmodules, several support rails next to one another are fixed in eachcase to a vertical support post, wherein the support rails are connectedto each other by means of cross struts to which solar modules with asurface area of more than 20 m² are mounted. Thus also solar moduleswith a particularly large surface area, for example with a size of morethan 4 m², in particular more than 5 m², can be mounted to the supportrail in a simple manner. The lower end of the support rail can therebybe arranged less than 1 m above ground, so that a wall element can becovered to a large extent over its entire surface with solar modules.

In order to achieve a stable attachment, it is preferable to providefixing devices for the support rail and/or the spacer that penetrate thewall element. To this end, a drill hole is formed in the wall elementthrough which the fixing device is guided, wherein the drill hole isthen filled out with foam and sealed after installation. Thus, heat lossdue to the fixing devices can be kept to a minimum.

The invention will be described subsequently in more detail by means ofembodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a wall structure according to theinvention;

FIG. 2 shows a side view of the wall structure of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a detailed view of the upper mounting of the support railsof the wall structure;

FIG. 4 shows a detailed view of the lower connection of the supportrails of the wall structure, and

FIG. 5 shows a perspective exploded view of a modified mounting of thesupport rail.

A wall structure comprises support rails 1 arranged in an inclinedmanner and which are fixed at the upper end by means of fixing devices10. Thereby, several support rails 1 are arranged that are connected toeach other by means of one or more cross struts 2. Attached to the crossstruts 2 are solar modules, for example, large-surfaced photovoltaicmodules having a surface area of more that 5 m². The support rails 1 canlikewise possess a length from 4 to 10 m, in particular 6 to 8 m,according to the height of a wall element 4.

As shown in FIG. 2, each support rail 1 is held at a side facing towardsthe ground 14 to a spacer 9 in the form of a strut, wherein the spacer 9is connected to the support rail 1 by means of a joint 11. At theopposite side, the spacer 9 is likewise connected by means of a joint 12to a fixing device 90. The support rail 1 is thereby attached to andsuspended from the fixing device 10 and can expand and contract inlength, as symbolised by the arrow. Pivoting of the spacer 9 compensatesfor the alteration in length. It is, of course, also possible to providethe spacer 9 with guidance means so that the support rail 1 is guided toslide along the spacer 9.

The support profile 1 is aligned in an incline by the spacer 9 at anangle β of approximately 70° to 85° relative to the horizontal, so thatthe solar modules 3 have a high degree of efficiency.

The wall structure further comprises a vertical support post 5 that isanchored to a floor 8 and to which a wall element 4 is mounted.Furthermore, the vertical support post 5 serves as a support for roofbraces 6 and roof elements 7.

The attachment of the support rail 1 in its upper region is portrayed indetail in FIG. 3. The vertical support post 5 is designed as an I-beamand comprises a side web 17 to which a wall structure 4 is attached. Thewall element 4 can have an outer insulating layer consisting of, forexample, sheet metal.

In order to mount the support rail 1 to the support post 5, a fixingdevice 10 is provided that has on one side a plate-shaped mountingflange 15 and which lies against the web 17 and is fixed by means of oneor more screws 16. The fixing device 10 comprises a bend-resistant webthat extends from the flange 15 to an opposite carrier plate 18 that isaligned in an inclined position relative to the vertical. The carrierplate 18 rests against a web 19 of the support rail 1 that is likewisedesigned as an I-beam. The carrier plate 18 is thereby fixed to the web19 by means of one or more screws 16. Likewise, a web 20 is provided atthe opposite side of the support rail 1, to which a cross strut 2 isattached by means of fixing devices 21, wherein a plate-shaped solarmodule 3 is fixed to the cross strut 2 by holding means 22. The solarmodules 3 can possess an edge length of over 2 m, for example 2.20×2.60m.

In order to be able to install the fixing device 10 to a support post 5in retrospect, first of all a drill hole is made into the wall element 4and the fixing device 10 is mounted. Subsequently, the cavity in thewall element 4 is filled with foam 23 and closed off to the outside bymeans of a cover plate 24. Thus heat loss can be kept to a minimum anddamage due to damp can be avoided.

In FIG. 4, the connection of the support rail 1 is depicted in its lowerregion. Here, too, the support rail 1 is connected on the outside to across strut 2, to which a solar module 3 is attached. On the side facingtowards the wall element 4, a spacer 9 in the form of a strut isprovided that is connected to the support rail 1 in an articulatedfashion by means of an axis 11. At the opposite side, the spacer 9 isconnected in an articulated fashion by means of an axis 12 to a fixingdevice 90 that rests by way of a mounting flange 15 against the web 17of the support post 5. The mounting flange 15 is connected to the web 17by means of screws 16. Furthermore, the plate-shaped fixing device 90extends from the mounting flange 15 and protrudes through the wallelement 4, wherein the axis 12 is arranged on the protruding part forattaching the spacer 9. The wall element 4 is also here left with arecess after drilling that is then filled with foam 23 and closed off bya cover plate 24 after mounting the fixing device 90. As can berecognized in FIG. 4, the fixing device 90 is situated just above thefactory floor 8 on which the support post 5 is fixed. Thus, the supportrails 1 can extend from just above the ground, for example, from adistance of less than 1 m. Therefore, the height of the wall element 4is covered to a large extent by the support rail1.

FIG. 5 shows an alternative embodiment for attaching a support rail 1.Drill holes are provided in the web 17 of the support post 5 for theattachment of a mount 10′ that is designed as a hollow profile and whichcan be attached to the web 17 by means of a base plate 15′. Welded to aweb 19 of the support rail 1 is a plug-in element 18′ that is insertedinto the mount 10′. Thus, the support rail 1 can be pre-attached in asimple manner to the mount 10′ before fixing devices are attached to themount 10′ and the plug-in element 18′.

1. Wall structure in particular for industrial buildings having avertical support post (5) supported on the ground, to which an upper endof a support rail (1) is affixed, wherein at least one carrier (2) witha solar module (3) is fixed to the support rail (1) and the support rail(1) is fixed in an inclined position relative to the vertical by meansof a spacer (9) positioned between the support post (5) and the supportrail (1).
 2. Wall structure according to claim 1, characterized in thatthe support rail (1) is longitudinally moveably attached to the spacer(9).
 3. Wall structure according to claim 2, characterized in that thesupport rail (1) is slidably attached to the spacer (9).
 4. Wallstructure according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in thatthe support rail (1) is aligned at an angle of inclination to thevertical of between 5° and 20°, in particular 8° to 15°.
 5. Wallstructure according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that awall element (4) is mounted to the support post (5).
 6. Wall structureaccording to claim 5, characterized in that the support rail (1) usedfor attaching the solar modules (3) extends over at least 70%,preferably at least 80%, of the height of the wall element (4).
 7. Wallstructure according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in thatseveral support rails (1) next to one another are fixed in each case toa vertical support post (5), and the support rails (1) are connected toeach other by means of cross struts, to which solar modules (3) with asurface area of more than 20 m² are mounted.
 8. Wall structure accordingto any one of the aforementioned claims, characterized in that the wallelement (4) has an outer layer and an insulating layer.
 9. Wallstructure according to any one of the aforementioned claims,characterized in that the support rail (1) and/or the spacer (9) areattached to the vertical support post (5) by means of fixing devices(10,90) that penetrate the wall element (4).
 10. Wall structureaccording to claim 9, characterized in that a drill hole is formed inthe wall element (4) through which the fixing device (10, 90) is guided,wherein the drill hole is filled out with foam and sealed.
 11. Wallstructure according to any one of the aforementioned claims,characterized in that the lower end of the support rail (1) ispositioned less than 1 m above the ground (14).
 12. Wall structureaccording to any one of the aforementioned claims, characterized in thatthe support rail (1) has a length of more than 4 m, in particular morethan 6 m.